The state minister said these while addressing a virtual press briefing
The local tech company Walton on Tuesday handed over three functional ventilator prototypes to the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Division to help win the battle against coronavirus.
The ICT Division will hand over the ventilators — two developed by the company on its own and one under the guidance of the renowned global medical device company Medtronic — to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for clinical trials on Wednesday.
State Minister for the ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, at an online press conference, said that the DGHS would decide whether or not to accept the ventilators provided by Walton.
“Walton can go for production once they get the approval of the DGHS,” Palak added.
He informed the media that his office had so far received 18 ventilator prototypes, one of the most essential medical devices needed for treating Covid-19 patients, from different organizations and individuals, adding that all of them were undergoing trial.
The model designed in association with Medtronic was named as WPB 560, whereas Walton’s own ventilators were named Walton Covid Build Ventilator 2020 or WCV-20.
The state minister for ICT Division said that the government was hopeful that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic would be over soon.
“But if things don’t improve then the homemade ventilators will be able to meet our medical demands,” he said.
Meanwhile, Walton’s Executive Director Golam Murshed, speaking on the occasion, said that the firm would start manufacturing the ventilators in the last week of May after the import of some necessary equipment.
As of Tuesday, Bangladesh had confirmed 6,462 coronavirus cases, with the death toll rising to 155 after three new fatalities were reported.
The fast spreading Covid-19 has so far killed 212,000 people in more than 200 countries and territories.
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